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International Paralympic Committee
Adenauerallee 212-214 Tel. +49 228 2097-200 www.paralympic.org 53113 Bonn, Germany Fax +49 228 2097-209 [email protected]
International Paralympic Committee Style Guide The following is a guide to correct generic terminology and language to be used in the Paralympic Movement.
3 March 2017
IPC Style Guide 2
Contents 1 General ............................................................................................................................ 6
British English ............................................................................................................ 6 1.1
Common American phrasing / spelling to be avoided ................................................... 7 1.2
Typography ................................................................................................................ 8 1.3
Tone ........................................................................................................................... 8 1.4
2 Acronyms ......................................................................................................................... 9
3 Blogs ................................................................................................................................ 9
4 Bylines and attribution ..................................................................................................... 9
5 Capitalisation ................................................................................................................... 9
Upper Case .............................................................................................................. 10 5.1
Lower Case ............................................................................................................... 10 5.2
6 Categories and Keywords ............................................................................................... 10
7 Company names ............................................................................................................. 11
8 Contractions ................................................................................................................... 11
9 Time: dates, days of the week ......................................................................................... 11
10 Diacritics ........................................................................................................................ 12
11 Documents ..................................................................................................................... 12
12 Foreign names................................................................................................................ 12
13 Gender neutral ............................................................................................................... 13
14 Headlines ....................................................................................................................... 13
15 International Paralympic Committee ............................................................................... 14
16 Interviews ....................................................................................................................... 14
17 Links and hyperlinks ....................................................................................................... 14
Links to other sites ................................................................................................... 15 17.1
18 Sport reporting ............................................................................................................... 15
19 Numbers: measurements, amounts, money .................................................................... 16
Numbers .................................................................................................................. 16 19.1
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Measurements ......................................................................................................... 17 19.2
Money ...................................................................................................................... 17 19.3
Percentages ............................................................................................................. 18 19.4
Scores ...................................................................................................................... 18 19.5
Timing ...................................................................................................................... 18 19.6
20 People ............................................................................................................................ 18
Titles of IPC Governing Board Members .................................................................... 19 20.1
Titles of IPC Sport Technical Committee (STC) Chairpersons .................................... 19 20.2
Titles of IPC Management Staff Members ................................................................. 19 20.3
21 Photos............................................................................................................................ 19
22 Picture captions ............................................................................................................. 20
23 Picture galleries ............................................................................................................. 21
24 Places ............................................................................................................................ 21
25 Plural/singular and collective nouns ................................................................................ 22
26 Punctuation ................................................................................................................... 23
Apostrophes ............................................................................................................. 23 26.1
Brackets................................................................................................................... 23 26.2
Bullet points ............................................................................................................. 23 26.3
Colons ...................................................................................................................... 23 26.4
Commas ................................................................................................................... 24 26.5
Dash ........................................................................................................................ 24 26.6
Ellipsis ...................................................................................................................... 24 26.7
Full stops ................................................................................................................. 24 26.8
Hyphens ................................................................................................................... 24 26.9
Slashes (/) ............................................................................................................. 25 26.10
Semi-colons .......................................................................................................... 25 26.11
27 Quotes ........................................................................................................................... 25
28 Reader comments .......................................................................................................... 26
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29 Social media................................................................................................................... 26
30 Subheads ....................................................................................................................... 26
31 Teasers .......................................................................................................................... 27
32 Tenses ........................................................................................................................... 27
In headlines .............................................................................................................. 27 32.1
In article teasers ....................................................................................................... 27 32.2
In articles ................................................................................................................. 28 32.3
33 Text body ....................................................................................................................... 28
34 Video and audio.............................................................................................................. 28
35 Guide to reporting on persons with an impairment .......................................................... 29
Disability and impairment ......................................................................................... 29 35.1
General rules ............................................................................................................ 29 35.2
Appropriate words and phrases ................................................................................ 31 35.3
Usage of Para and Paralympic .................................................................................. 35 35.4
Paralympic/IPC terminology ...................................................................................... 36 35.5
Event terminology ..................................................................................................... 40 35.6
35.6.1 Paralympic Games ............................................................................................. 40
35.6.2 IPC sport events ................................................................................................. 41
35.6.3 National Championships .................................................................................... 41
35.6.4 State/Local Championships ................................................................................ 42
IPC Sport Technical Committees (the technical advisory and delivery body of an IPC 35.7sport) 43
NPCs ........................................................................................................................ 43 35.8
IPC General Assembly .............................................................................................. 44 35.9
Regions ................................................................................................................. 44 35.10
Organising Committees ......................................................................................... 45 35.11
36 Sports and Disciplines .................................................................................................... 46
Sports and disciplines governed by the IPC ............................................................... 46 36.1
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Sports and disciplines governed by IOSDs ................................................................. 47 36.2
Sports governed by International Federations (IF) ..................................................... 47 36.3
37 Acronyms ....................................................................................................................... 48
38 Country names and codes (for NPCs) .............................................................................. 51
39 Useful websites .............................................................................................................. 57
Style Guides online: .................................................................................................. 57 39.1
Guide to assist you when writing about persons with an impairment: ......................... 57 39.2
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1 General Aside from this general section, the rest of the style guide is in alphabetical order.
British English 1.1
The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) uses British English spelling and punctuation. Before entering articles in the Web Editor or printing written material, run a British English spell check.
The reference dictionary for spelling questions not covered in this guide is http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/. Please ensure, when using the dictionary that you use the spelling usually used in the UK.
Our target audience is made up of people of all ages looking for information about Paralympic sport and the Paralympic Movement. We can assume readers are fairly well-educated but do not necessarily know the ins and outs of Paralympic subjects.
Writing should be precise.
Avoid complicated terminology, jargon, acronyms or overly erudite language. Many of our readers are non-native speakers, so avoid complicated language.
If you use idioms, be careful that they are understandable throughout the English-speaking world and for non-native English speakers. If there is any doubt about whether a word, issue, person, place or event is internationally recognisable or understood, it needs to be explained.
In most cases - and in all news articles - use the third person point of view. In blogs, the first person is appropriate.
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Common American phrasing / spelling to be avoided 1.2
Some spelling differences:
Words that end in -our in the UK end in -or in the USA.
UK: colour, honour, favourite
US: color, honor, favorite
Words that end in -re in the UK end in -er in the US.
UK: centre, theatre
US: center, theater
The verbs that end in -ise in the UK end in -ize in the US. This applies to the few verbs ending in -yse and -yze as well. Nouns that end in –isation in the UK end in -ization in the US
UK: realise, theorise, socialise, analyse, organisation
US: realize, theorize, socialize, analyze, organization
A few other words are spelled differently. A few common examples follow.
UK: waggon, mould, manoeuvre, encyclopaedia, furore, programme, travelled, medalled, mum
US: wagon, mold, maneuver, encyclopedia, furor, program, traveled, medaled, mom
UK: a licence, to license
US: a license, to license
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Typography 1.3
In order to have one look and feel, it is essential to define a common typography that is used for all communication material such as letterheads, presentations, promotional materials.
In all our printed material we use the justified font: Trade Gothic Next LT Pro.
For all PowerPoint presentations and e-mail correspondence we use Calibri instead.
See the IPC Brand Book for more details.
Tone 1.4
Our tone of voice is an important part of who we are and how we connect with people. It is based on our ideas and values, and focuses on educating and inspiring others.
The more consistent we are in our written words, the more likely it is that people will understand what makes us special. We need a strong verbal identity that we all understand and know how to use.
The way we express ourselves has to have a high impact and be inspirational so that people understand what is important to us and our athletes. We are understanding and warm – yet assertive.
How does ‘high impact’ sound?
It is active and dynamic, not weak and unfocused.
How does ‘inspirational’ sound?
It is about being creative and inventive and having the energy and dynamism in our writing. We focus on the positives, rather than the negatives.
How does ‘understanding and warm– yet ‘assertive’ sound?
It is inclusive, welcoming, supportive and friendly but also straightforward, clear, uncomplicated and easy to understand.
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2 Acronyms Do not use full stops in acronyms, e.g. IPC, NPC EU, UN, US
See page 43 for a list of commonly used acronyms.
3 Blogs Blog titles should always start with the author’s name in the headline, followed by : and the blog title, e.g. Esther Vergeer: Shoulder injury opens my eyes
The blog teaser should infer that this is the author's opinion and include his or her name and sport (where applicable). If the author is from the IPC, include the department in which they work.
If the author of the blog wants to, his/her twitter handle can be inserted at the end of the blog in this format:
[Name] is [Job title / sport] at/for [organisation/country]. You can follow him/her on Twitter @[handle].
4 Bylines and attribution When you use other newspapers, magazines or websites as sources, these should all be credited directly in the article.
Bylines are only appropriate when articles are authored by external writers.
Online, the byline is written at the top of the article in this format:
“By Beau Greenway | For the IPC” or “By the Canadian Paralympic Committee”
In documents, the author can also be written along the right hand side of the page close to the bottom. Please refer to the design team for further information.
5 Capitalisation In headlines, only capitalise the first word and any other word that requires capitalisation.
If you are referring to a sport as a brand, write the acronym of the international federation and capitalise the sport, e.g. World Para Alpine Skiing, World Para Athletics. If you are referring to the sport in general terms, use lower case, e.g. Jones has been competing on the alpine skiing circuit for eight years. For a full list of sports, please see appendix at end of document.
Correct capitalisation for office holders: Capitalise job titles immediately preceding the name when used as part of the name.
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We asked IPC President Sir Philip Craven to join us at the meeting. Capitalise job titles immediately following the name when the word the does not appear in
front of the job title. Sir Philip Craven, IPC President, will join us at the meeting.
When the appears in front of the job title, do not capitalise. Sir Philip Craven, the president of the IPC, helped draft the article.
Do not capitalise titles when used descriptively. Greg Space, who will chair the meeting, is always on time.
Upper Case 5.1
World/regional Championships Spirit in Motion (upper case and without commas) is the Paralympic motto Subcommittee (one word), Organising Committee, e.g. Vancouver 2010 Organising
Committee Sport Forum Opening Ceremony / Closing Ceremony (sing.) Victory Ceremony Strategic Review International Paralympic Committee, National Paralympic Committee, European Union,
European Commission
Lower Case 5.2
summer sport, winter sport gold, silver and bronze medal world champion world record (but Paralympic record) website, web, internet Use lower case following semi-colon
If the author is writing a legal document or manual that contains defined terms e.g. accreditation manual, then the defined terms can be capitalised.
6 Categories and Keywords Be sure to enter your stories in the appropriate categories in the Web Editor. Choose as many appropriate categories as possible.
The same goes for Keywords. The Keywords section is a mandatory field.
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The keywords we enter in the Web Editor (especially those in the main body of the article) are accessed both by the paralympic.org search engine and by outside search engines like Google. They are essential for our stories to get a broad readership.
The more specific the keywords are to describing the story, the more useful they will be for search engines to assess the article. Keywords should include any names of people and places and names of events.
Eight to 10 keywords within the keyword fields should suffice. Do not repeat keywords or search engines will think the article is spam and disregard it. When entering keywords, think about what term someone would enter when looking for the article.
For more information about which keywords are the most relevant, please look at the semantic core in section 39.
For videos, all words that have been selected as categories should also be entered into the keywords section as the “category” will not be imported by YouTube as a tag.
Only use words that appear somewhere in the headline or story. Likewise ensure that key search terms are included in the main body of the article. Do not use Paralympic or Paralympics (except for videos), since paralympic.org is already identified with those terms, so they become irrelevant.
7 Company names If companies use creative capitalisation, write the names as they themselves do, such as YouTube, ExCeL.
8 Contractions Do not use contractions such as don’t, won’t, hasn’t etc. The only exception is in blogs and quotes.
9 Time: dates, days of the week Do not use “today” or “yesterday” in articles, since readers may not know when you mean, especially if they are reading it in a different time zone. Instead, write the day of the week and write the date in brackets, e.g. Thursday (17 January).
Do not include the day or the date in article teasers. You should refer to the day of the week on which the news occurred in the main body of the article.
Dates should be written out in day-month-year-order. Always write out names of months; do not abbreviate them. Example: He was born on 2 January 1975, in Paris, France.
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Date ranges should be written as follows: 14-21 August (no space), from 29 August - 3 September, 2000-2002, June/July (no space)
Write centuries like this: 21st century.
For decades use figures: the 60s or the 1960s
The 24-hour clock is the preferred format for time, especially when referring to a deadline: 22:00 GMT.
Use local times when the location is mentioned in the text. Local times are written as follows: 11:30am (local time) or 7:00pm (local time).
10 Diacritics Do not use diacritics (accents) for non-English names. Only use them in English words that are normally require them: “café” or “papier-mâché”. See the foreign names section for more guidelines.
11 Documents When uploading PDFs to www.paralympic.org always use text-based PDFs (i.e. text can be copied) rather than image-based PDFs.
Before uploading to the website, go into document properties and set the title and keywords of the document. As the title of the document becomes part of the URL make sure that it is rich in keywords. If the document contains images, set the ALT text for key images. Make sure the document is write-protected. When uploading to the web editor, ensure that all the fields are completed fully.
12 Foreign names When second referencing names that include von, de, el, du, use this in the second reference. Here is an example of first and second reference:
Natalie du Toit; du Toit
Consult International Federation results information to determine how to spell foreign names from languages that do not use the Latin alphabet.
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13 Gender neutral In documents, language should be inclusive and gender neutral. If a singular pronoun could refer to a male or female, he/she should be written to indicate this. Another alternative is to make the antecedent plural, so that “they” can be used, e.g.
Journalists should portray the athlete as he/she is in real life. Journalists should portray athletes as they are in real life.
14 Headlines In headlines, only capitalise the first word and any word which would be capitalised in the main text. This also applies to audio and video titles and picture captions.
Length
Online headlines may only be 55 characters including spaces, so that they fit onto one line and are optimised for Google search results.
The headline should not include symbols, such as &.
Content
The headline can make or break your story. If it is weak, boring, cumbersome or awkward, no one will click on it and come to our page. Do not use jargon, abbreviations or word-plays if the reader has to think too long to understand it. Be creative but to the point.
In most cases, the headline should include a verb: Use active as opposed to passive constructions. The headline should not simply be the same as the lead sentence or teaser.
SEO
Getting the article title right is absolutely critical for SEO. The article title will be used in the three most valued page elements: the page title, the url and the h1 tag.
It is critical that we get the primary targeted keywords as close to the front of the title as possible. If a news article is about a particular person or athlete, starting with their name is usually an excellent choice from an SEO perspective. For example, “Peacock shifting from London to Lyon” would be better optimised as “Jonnie Peacock shifting from London 2012 to Lyon 2013” from an SEO perspective.
There is always the need to balance readability, voice, and editorial standards with SEO best practices when crafting the titles, but in the above example, making the title a bit longer and arguably slightly less readable to get exact matches for three of our chosen keywords is a reasonable trade.
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15 International Paralympic Committee The IPC is the governing body incorporating all member organisations (NPCs, IOSDs, Regions, IFs, IOSD and IPC sports), committees, councils, Governing Board and management team.
The abbreviation of the International Paralympic Committee is always the IPC, no matter which language. ‘IPC’ is used in combination with the direct article, i.e. the IPC.
For the first reference of the IPC, it should be written out as International Paralympic Committee unless it is in a sport or event name.
16 Interviews Questions should be written bold and separated from the interviewee’s responses by one line. The first question should be preceded with “Paralympic.org:”. The first answer should be preceded by the interviewee's name:
Paralympic.org: How is your training going?
Joe Blogs: I’m training five times a week and I’m feeling really prepared for the Games.
Who do you think will be your strongest rivals?
It’s difficult to say, but I think Paul Smith is on top form right now.
17 Links and hyperlinks Every story should have three links to past stories (in related data in Web Editor). When attaching the links, make sure it is still relevant to the story. (Read through it if you are unsure). Simply attaching the latest news developments on a story is not the best choice. It is better to link background stories, features, explainers or interviews than news reports.
In most cases, the links should not be more than a year old. If there is nothing more recent, older articles may be added.
When creating hyperlinks to websites, ensure that you hyperlink keyword-rich text. The text that links to a page is called “anchor text”. Google places significant weight on this linked text. For example, if you link the text ‘Lyon 2013’, you are telling Google that when people search for the keyword ‘Lyon 2013’ Google should return the linked page.
Do not hyperlink the words “click here”, “more” or the web address for internal links. This is OK for links to other websites but should not be used for links within our own site. Likewise, never link any of our important keywords to external websites.
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It is sometimes good to link adjoining words to your keywords if you think it might be something that people might search, for example hyperlink “Full results for the 2017 World Para Athletics Championships can be found on the results page”. This makes it clear to search robots what the link refers to. Ideally we should have several variations of anchor text linking to the same page including all of the examples above ‘World Para Athletics’, ‘World Para Athletics Championships’, ‘2017 World Para Athletics Championships’, ‘London 2017’’ etc.
There is no advantage from an SEO perspective to link the same page more than once in the same article. (e.g. Consider an example where ‘Page A’ is the article page. If multiple links exist from ‘Page A’ to ‘Page B’ Google will only count the first link). Google will count links to different pages. (e.g. If links exist from ‘Page A’ to ‘Page B’, Page ‘C’ and Page ‘D’ Google will count each of these links)
Set links in your articles to other pages that you are trying to promote. In this case, some examples of these pages would include linking the text ‘Paralympic gold’ to http://www.paralympic.org/Athletics/Results/Results and linking the text ‘Jonnie Peacock’ to his athlete bio page (http://www.paralympic.org/athlete/jonnie-peacock-0).
In printed documents always use www. before the web address, but leave out http:// unless it is essential for the web address to work.
Links to other sites 17.1
Attach outside links only if they provide the reader with useful information or help illustrate your story.
When writing out a link name, indicate the language a website is in if there is no English version.
18 Sport reporting Names of sport events are not capitalised.
When the context is clear, the sport name can be omitted (e.g. athletics)
Event names follow the format:
gender, event, Sport Class/Category women’s 100m T54 women’s 100m freestyle S6 men’s discus F38 men’s super-G standing
sport, event, Sport Class/category
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boccia BC3 pairs
Use men’s and women’s when mentioning a certain competition (not male and female), e.g. the winner of the women’s 100m was Sally Green. But use male and female athlete (not man and woman athlete).
Country is the preferred term to nation. However, use member nations when speaking of the NPCs.
Use developing countries (not Third World countries, etc.)
19 Numbers: measurements, amounts, money Numbers 19.1
When to use words When to use numerals Exceptions
Numbers one to nine Numbers 10 or above
Use figures in references to pages. Always spell out page and pages.
The exception is when talking about world rankings or classifications. This would be world No. 1 or T44, Class 9.
If a sentence starts with a number, write that number in words, even if it is greater than nine.
Use figures for sets of numerals, some of which are higher than ten, e.g. Deaths from this cause in the past three years were 14, 9 and 6.
Fractions less than one should be hyphenated (one-half, three-quarters, etc.) and , spelled out in words, even when the figures are higher than ten: He gave a tenth of his salary to the church, a twentieth to his mistress and a thirtieth to his wife. The
Use figures for all numerals that include a decimal point or a fraction attached to a whole number (e.g. 4.25, 4¼).
Write decimals with a full stop: 1,000kg and 25gr = 1,000.25
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exception is 20th century
.
Do not abbreviate million or billion, even in headlines. A billion is a thousand million, a trillion a thousand billion, a quadrillion a thousand trillion
Insert a comma in four-figured amounts and beyond: 3,456 (not 3.456)
Use Part III (not Part 3)
Measurements 19.2
Use lower case for: m (metres), kg (kilogram), km (kilometre), mph and other measures. When used with figures, these lower-case abbreviations should follow immediately, without a space (15kg, 100m, 23km).
Always spell out hectares and miles. But kilograms and kilometres can be shortened to kg and km. Kilometres per hour are kph and miles per hour are mph.
Money 19.3
To keep our writing consistent, we do not use symbols, e.g. $ or £, but instead use the ISO 4217 three-letter currency codes before the amount when it is written in numerals, e.g. USD 1,000, GBP 1,000.
A full list of currency codes can be downloaded here:
http://www.currency-iso.org/isocy/global/en/home/tables/table-a1.html or viewed online here: http://www.xe.com/iso4217.php
If a number expressing an amount of money is spelled out so are the words of this currency (e.g. one million US dollars, nine euros, 10 million euros)
Do not capitalise or italicise “dollars” or “euros” and note that the plural requires an 's'.
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The first mention of currency amounts should always be accompanied by the respective euro value in round brackets.
Percentages 19.4
Write out “per cent” when it is part of the main body of the text. Only use “%” if you are referring to a figure in brackets, e.g. (1%). Always use figures for percentages: 1 per cent, 70 per cent, and 0.8 per cent. Write percentage, not %age.
One exception is in equestrian scores when the score is always written with %, e.g. 80.035%.
Scores 19.5
For scores in sports use 4-3 not 4:3 within the body of the text.
When scores appear outside the body of the text as a summary of list, we use the following:
• For football and rugby scores, if the score is in a list, it is displayed like this: Netherlands 4-0 Germany.
• For Tennis scores, we write the sets 6-1, 6-0, 6-3. • For hockey scores, the convention in lists is: USA 4, Canada 2.
When used in a news report, separate the score with commas, e.g. Germany soared past the Netherlands, 85-34, on Sunday (8 May) at the 2013 IWBF Wheelchair Basketball World Championships.
Timing 19.6
Use hrs for hours, min for minutes and sec for seconds with a space between the numeral and abbreviation and without a full stop:
3 hrs, 10 min, 24 sec.
When referring to a competition time, use hour followed by colon, minute followed by colon, second followed by full stop, followed by millisecond:
4:36:12.06 (hrs:min:sec.milisec)
20 People When writing a news story, use first name and surname/last name at first mention of the person. Thereafter the surname should be used.
Doctors, knights, dames, lords, princes, kings, etc. should be given their title on first mention. Titles are not necessary in headings or captions.
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Titles such as Dr. and Prof. are written upon first mention, and thereafter a surname can be used.
Upon first reference, use complete title (e.g. Sir Philip Craven). With second reference shorten appropriately (e.g. Sir Philip, BUT Lady Craven). Never use Sir Craven.
Titles of IPC Governing Board Members 20.1
IPC President IPC Vice President IPC Member at Large
(See section on capitalisation for more details)
Titles of IPC Sport Technical Committee (STC) Chairpersons 20.2
STC Chairperson (not Chairman or Chairwoman) followed by the federation name: STC Chairperson World Para Alpine Skiing STC Chairperson World Para Athletics STC Chairperson World Para Ice Hockey STC Chairperson World Para Nordic Skiing STC Chairperson World Para Powerlifting STC Chairperson World Shooting Para Sport STC Chairperson World Para Swimming STC Chairperson World Para Dance Sport
Titles of IPC Management Staff Members 20.3
The current list of titles of IPC Management Staff members can be found at https://www.paralympic.org/the-ipc/management-team
21 Photos Photos play an important part in all our communication material. Photos can tell a story and may have a higher impact than words alone. They carry emotions and help us to express how we want to be seen by others. The content of an image is taken in at a glance and there is no room for subtlety, so please ensure you use our guidelines when selecting photos, supporting our strong visual identity.
Like the headline, the picture you choose to go on top of your story can make or break everything. Pictures should be clear, easy to read and have vibrant colours. Do not use blurry pictures, even if they are in the Web Editor. Avoid pictures with lots of white or grey. Avoid using
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highly detailed or busy images and shots from afar. These are too hard to recognise. Close ups and simple, easily recognisable images are the best choice.
Key things to remember:
In all photographs the athlete should be the central focus, not his or her impairment.
The athlete’s impairment should not be concealed but demonstrated in a self-confident and self-evident manner.
Genders, nationalities, sports and impairment groups etc. should always be treated equally.
The photos we use are physical and triumphant, dynamic, and international.
Pictures must fit with the article's context and be relevant to the region in which they are used or seen, e.g. a poster for European Championships should show a European athlete. Do not use pictures of identifiable individuals to illustrate a story if they do not figure in it.
Only use horizontal pictures as main images online. Where necessary crop the image into landscape format.
It is important to maintain the visual impact of the start page and top pictures on articles should be changed to avoid too many of the same type of image appearing at once - such as numerous people in portrait style.
If we have used a picture in the system that illustrates your story many times, try and find something new.
Check each picture to make sure the thumbnail, looks good (non-blurry), or use a different picture.
22 Picture captions Every photo should have a content caption. These should be no longer than 125 characters (including spaces) in length. Picture captions for online articles should never be longer than four lines for side pictures.
Picture captions in the Paralympian and other printed matter should generally be one line long for large pictures and up to three lines for smaller pictures.
Pure descriptions, such as “Defending champion Marlou van Rhijn (left) talking to Marie-Amelie Le Fur ahead of the heats” are not as good as “Marlou van Rhijn (left) hopes to repeat her win against Marie-Amelie Le Fur in the finals” The lead photo caption should also not repeat information that is in the teaser
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Use round brackets, not commas, to indicate what is what in a picture: “Jones (left) had a close win against Romanov”
The Alt-Text field in the Web Editor is for visually impaired readers and search engines. It should simply describe what is seen in the picture using keywords and will often be different from the main caption: “Marlou van Rhijn talking to Marie-Amelie Le Fur before the 100m race in Lyon,” might be appropriate.
23 Picture galleries The minimum number of pictures for a gallery is six.
Each picture should show a different athlete, different situation and say something different. Do not use pictures showing exactly the same scene from a different angle. The gallery should tell a story. Give thought to the order of the pictures and put the strongest visual images at the beginning and the end.
Captions for picture galleries are currently the image title field. Make sure the image titles add information to the picture and do not merely describe what is obvious in the picture. They should comment on the image or enhance it in some way, e.g. say the result of the race that the athlete in the picture is competing in.
24 Places It is Ukraine, not the Ukraine.
Never refer to “the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia” as “Macedonia” but use the full name.
Use Eastern Europe and Eastern European (rather than East Europe).
Holland is strictly only two of the 11 provinces that make up the Netherlands. So use the Netherlands.
US/USA without full stops (US is an adjective and USA is a noun, e.g. a US citizen / the USA is a country).
Serbs and Croats are ethnic groups. Serbians and Croatians are citizens of Serbia or Croatia. Albanians are Albanians wherever they live (Albanian is an ethnicity as well as a nationality).
United Kingdom: England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland
Great Britain: England, Wales and Scotland (if you want to include Northern Ireland, use Great Britain and Northern Ireland or United Kingdom).
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In sport the international decision is to use Great Britain. Athletes from Northern Ireland can choose if they want to compete for Ireland or Great Britain.
Places and countries are separated by comma, e.g. the IPC Headquarters in Bonn, Germany.
Countries are ‘surrounded’ by commas, e.g. the competitions in Lille, France, were great.
Address Format:
Name of the Recipient (Mr., Ms. optional) Recipient’s Position Name of Organisation Department Address Address City Country
25 Plural/singular and collective nouns In sports stories teams should always be referred to as collective nouns: “Hertha lose yet again,” rather than “Hertha loses yet again”. “Germany are winning” rather than “Germany is winning”.
In British English collective nouns can take the singular or plural, whilst Americans treat them as singular.
UK: "The government are announcing an important decision." (Speaking of specific people in the government).
"The government is a constitutional monarchy." (Speaking of the government as an institution)
US: "The government is announcing an important decision."
"The government is a republic."
To use verbs and pronouns correctly in British English, identify whether the collective noun refers to a group or unit working as individuals or in unison. When the unit is acting in unison, it is appropriate to use the singular. When the members of the unit are acting as individuals, it is appropriate to use plural forms of verbs and pronouns.
Some specific examples:
Always singular Always plural
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The IPC
Opening Ceremony
Closing Ceremony
Championships
Paralympic Games
Headquarters
Media is always plural (as the Latin plural of medium
Use NPCs, IOSDs, etc., for plural thereof (not NPC’s, IOSD’s) )
26 Punctuation Apostrophes 26.1
Use the ending s' on plural and singular nouns that end in s - Danes', bosses', boss’, Jones’- including plural names that take a singular verb, e.g. Reuters', Barclays', Stewarts & Lloyds', Salomon Brothers'.
The United States, the United Nations, the Philippines, etc. have a plural possessive apostrophe: e.g. who will be the United States' next champion?
People's = of (the) people. Peoples'= of peoples.
Brackets 26.2
Only use square brackets when they are needed either inside round brackets or to mark words that are not in an original quote. For example: “I think [Jones] will win,” he said.
Bullet points 26.3
If one single bullet point is a full sentence, it requires a full stop. If the bullet point is not a full sentence, no full stop should be used until the final bullet point.
Colons 26.4
The most frequent use of a colon is at the end of a sentence to introduce lists, texts, etc. Capitalise the first word after a colon ONLY if it is a proper noun or the start of a complete sentence (e.g. He promised this: The athlete will win. BUT: There two considerations: time and feasibility.)
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Commas 26.5
Use commas to separate elements in a series, but do not put a comma before the conjunction in a simple series: The flag is black, red and gold.
Use a comma before the concluding conjunction in a complex series of phrases: The main points are whether the athletes are skilful enough to compete, whether they have the stamina to endure the training, and whether they have the proper mental attitude.
Dash 26.6
We use one long hyphen, preceded and followed by a space, to represent a dash. Make sure your dash is long: – rather than - for dashes that separate phrases within a sentence.
For date ranges and hyphens use -.
Ellipsis 26.7
Treat an ellipsis like a three-letter word, using spaces before and after it, like this: “They’ve got Rolf Pedersen who is arguably the best player in the world ... He’s really hard to shut down.”
Full stops 26.8
Use one space after a full stop (not two).
Full stops should follow: e.g. / etc. / i.e.
Hyphens 26.9
Use one word wherever possible.
Use hyphens to form compound adjectives preceding nouns (noun + adjective, noun + participle, adjective + participle, well + participle, describing length of time, phrasal adjectives), e.g. sport-mad journalist, user-generated content, bad-tempered cyclist, bronze-medal match, two-tonne vessel, three-year deal, 27-year-old swimmer. Do use hyphens where not using one would be ambiguous
When two adjectives modify a noun, do not hyphenate them, e.g. first ever Games
If the compound adjective comes after the noun, do not hyphenate, e.g. ‘They took Lynch through the testing procedure step by step.’ But: ‘The step-by-step procedure took two hours.’
Here are some commonly hyphenated words:
Co-operation, co-operate, co-ordination, co-ordinator mono-ski, sit-ski, sit-skiing, sit-skier super-G multi-impairment
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non-rightsholding (but rights holder, rights-holding because it is modifying something) semi-final, quarter-final, etc. so-called
-
Words we do not hyphenate
email (lower case, as this is now common usage) grassroots handcyclist, handcycling
Slashes (/) 26.10
There is no space before or after a slash when used between individual words, letters, numbers or symbols, e.g. men/women
One space is used before and after the slash when used between longer groups of words which contain internal spacing", e.g. men’s 100m T44 / women’s 100m T44.
Semi-colons 26.11
Semi-colons should be used to mark a pause longer than a comma and shorter than a full stop. Do not overdo them. Do not capitalise the first word after a semi-colon.
27 Quotes Quotes are meaningful additions to an article. They help humanise a news report or convey issues through the eyes of a protagonist in a feature story. Each article (even short news articles) should include quotes, and they need to be introduced early in an article.
Quotes should reflect accurately what a person said. The only justification for diverging from the actual quote is to fix grammar mistakes, especial from non-native speakers.
Each quote should be limited to just one thought. If there are more aspects than can be summed up in a short quote, these need to be paraphrased in indirect statements.
Use only the most interesting statements as direct quotes. Paraphrase the rest.
Do not include figures, dates and statistics in quotes. You can summarise these more succinctly.
Avoid using too many quotes. This breaks up the flow of the story and makes it hard for the reader to maintain an overview. If an article relies heavily on the statements of one individual, consider using the interview (Q&A) format instead.
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Attribute a quote after providing the first sentence of it: “We even included a friend from Sami’s college years from Mexico who never skated before in his entire life,” Bridges countered, “so I think the game was rigged.”
Avoid using the combination “told paralympic.org” repeatedly in an article. It is sufficient to write this once early on in an article.
Use double quotation marks for direct quotes and for titles of works (articles, books, etc.)
Make sure that all the quotation marks (and apostrophes) in your story are curly (“) rather than straight ("like this").
To make sure Word is formatted to do this, go to auto format options and choose “replace straight quotes with smart quotes”.
Use single quotation marks for a quote within a quote, to emphasise words or for general titles. Also use single quotation marks in picture captions, headlines and subheads.
28 Reader comments Do not approve any comments that are insulting or offensive. Please see the IPC Netiquette Policy for more details.
29 Social media The style of writing on social media is informal and conversation. Links are always shortened into bit.ly links. Where necessary words can be removed or shortened to keep within 140 characters on Twitter, provided that the meaning is clear.
Please see IPC Social Media Best Practice Guidelines for more details.
30 Subheads Subheads break up the main body of a feature article. Use them as stepping stones that help lead you across a river - or to draw the reader's attention to something interesting lower down in the story.
If online articles are long, use at least two subheads in the article. Subheads are not necessary in articles 200 words or less. For articles between 200 and 300 words, the editor will use their judgement as to whether subheads are required.
Use the subhead typography style in the Web Editor for online subheads.
Use subheads to introduce a new element, but avoid repeating phrases word-for-word that appear in the text.
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Only capitalise the first letter in subheads. Do not end subheads with a full stop. Subheads should be short and snappy.
Do not use double quotation marks in subheads. Use single quotation marks.
31 Teasers (Teasers are called subtitles in the Web Editor).
These appear below the headline on the carousel, on the news archive, feature archive and blogs archive pages beside the picture, and also below the headline on the article page.
A teaser needs to convey the essence and the tone of an article, without giving away all the details. After reading a teaser, a reader should be so interested in the topic that he/she wants to click for more. If too much information is packed in the teaser, there is no reason for the reader to look for more.
At the same time, a teaser should accurately reflect the tone and topic of an article. “Cliff hangers” are great for teasers because they make the reader want to know more, but they need to be appropriate to the tone in the article and the nature of the topic.
The teaser should not say the same thing as the first paragraph of the story.
You cannot always assume readers have read a teaser. Sometimes they just click on an article after reading the headline and go right to the text. Important information - especially facts - should never be given ONLY in the teaser. The first paragraph should always be the beginning of an article, not the teaser.
Teasers are full sentences restricted to 125-150 characters including spaces, which then shows up as the two lines of text in Google search results. The teaser should end with a full stop.
Use double quotation marks (rather than single ones) when quoting someone in article teasers.
32 Tenses In headlines 32.1
Use present tense, unless it is obviously wrong or inappropriate:
USA win World Cup
In article teasers 32.2
Use present perfect unless that is obviously wrong. Do not mention the day of the week on which something happened in article teasers:
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The USA has moved on to the next stage of the tournament after demolishing Canada’s defences.
In articles 32.3
Use the simple past for things that just happened:
Germany won gold in wheelchair basketball, beating Canada 48-10.
Use the past perfect only for things that occurred before the events you are describing:
Before halftime, Canada had been up 0-10.
33 Text body The actual body of an article should be between 3,500 and 5,000 characters, including spaces (630-900 words). This should be limited to 7,000 characters (1250 words) for feature stories. It is the author's responsibility to cut stories down to size.
If a story is too long, readers will most likely not read the whole thing, and it might be difficult to read on a smart phone.
The topic and the approach or style of writing dictates how long an article is. In general, news stories are shorter, between 1,000 and 2,500 characters (180-450 words).
Keep sentences and paragraphs short, and break up paragraphs with subheads. Avoid large blocks of text.
34 Video and audio Videos are important elements in a multimedia site and should be added as often as possible. If you have the choice, attach videos that supplement your story with a different angle or further information.
The title field of video links is displayed beside the article. When inputting new videos, please try to keep titles to 55 characters including spaces (one line). The title should read like regular headlines, except when it shows a race, in which case the name of the race goes first and then the name of the competition, e.g. Women’s discus F12-13 – Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games.
The content description for videos can be as long as a few paragraphs, and should provide the viewer with some supplementary information. The content caption should be limited to 190 characters.
Please see the IPC’s Social Media Best Practice guide for more information on inputting videos.
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35 Guide to reporting on persons with an impairment Disability and impairment 35.1
In line with the World Health Organisation, the IPC is moving away from using ‘disability’. The word reflects an interaction between features of a person’s body and features of society and normally infers that you are unable to do something.
When referring to a loss in body function or structure, or activity limitation, the term ‘impairment’ is now preferred when describing athletes. This shifts the focus more onto athletes’ abilities and what they are able to achieve.
Long term, the aspiration is that there is no need to use either word. Those who participate in Paralympic sport are quite simply athletes. The inspirational message they send every day through their incredible sporting achievements can help bring about social change.
For all broadcasting commentary, impairment should be used instead of disability.
General rules 35.2
When speaking, interviewing or socialising with a person or an athlete with an impairment, here are a few general rules to remember:
Always identify the person first and then the impairment, e.g. “an athlete with an impairment” not a “disabled athlete”. Sometimes it may not be necessary or relevant to mention the impairment, so don’t feel obliged to do so. When it is relevant, just mention what the impairment is and then move on.
Act naturally and don’t monitor every word and action. Don’t be embarrassed if you use common expressions like “see you later” (to a person with a visual impairment) or “I’d better run along” (to someone who uses a wheelchair).
Avoid using emotional wording like “tragic”, “afflicted”, “victim”, or “confined to a wheelchair”. Emphasise the ability and not the limitation, by saying that someone “uses a wheelchair” rather than “is confined” or “is wheelchair-bound”.
Avoid portraying people with an impairment who succeed as “extraordinary” or “superhuman”. For example, overstating the achievements of athletes with an impairment inadvertently suggests the original expectations were not high.
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Portray the person as he/she is in real life. For example, a person with an impairment might be an athlete but he/she may also be a parent, a civil engineer, a doctor, a business manager or a journalist.
People do not want to be recipients of charity or pity. Remember that a person with an impairment isn’t necessarily chronically sick or unhealthy.
Always ask a person with an impairment if he/she would like assistance before rushing in. Your help may not be needed. However, it is quite all right to offer help. If your assistance is needed then listen or ask for instructions.
When talking with a person who has an impairment, speak directly to that person rather than a companion or interpreter.
Don’t forget that people with an impairment may need your patience and sufficient time to act independently. Give the person extra time to speak if they are using a communication aid or have a learning impairment.
Ask persons with an impairment to repeat themselves if you do not understand them.
Respect the person’s personal space and remember that a wheelchair is part of a person’s personal space.
When greeting a person, if you normally shake hands, then offer the same gesture, even if the person has limited use of his/her hands or wears prosthesis. The person will let you know if a certain action is appropriate or not.
Do not assume that a person with a physical impairment also has a hearing impairment or that his/her mental capacity is diminished in any way. Speak in a normal tone and do not use language that is condescending.
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Appropriate words and phrases 35.3
Words can project images that are inaccurate and may hurt a person. In the following you can find a list of preferred terminology and appropriate wording to use when referring to athletes or people with an impairment in general.
Avoid: Use:
Disabled athlete/person
Handicapped athlete/person
Athlete/person with disabilities
Athlete(s) with disabilities or disabled athlete(s)
The incorrect terms are either generalisations or derogatory and offensive.
Athlete
or (where a distinction needs to be made) the preferred term is
Para athlete
or
athlete(s) with an impairment
Person(s)/People with an impairment
These terms refer to all athletes within the Paralympic Movement from grassroots to elite level. They are athletes first, so where possible, we should simply refer to them just as athletes. Place the athlete or person first rather than referring to his/her impairment.
Impairment is preferred to disability. The Paralympics are all about ability, not inability. Lack of inclusion or mobility restriction are often due to external factors that can be overcome.
Athlete/Person with a vision impairment Athlete/Persons with a visual impairment / blindness and (visually impaired is also acceptable, especially to improve the
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The blind flow of sentences).
An athlete who has been classified as having a visual impairment
The handicapped
The disabled
The physically handicapped
Person with a locomotor disability
Persons with a physical impairment
A person who has been classified as having a physical impairment, e.g. amputees, wheelchair users, people with cerebral palsy etc.
Normal athletes
Calling able-bodied people ‘normal’ is derogatory to people with an impairment who are equal to their able-bodied counterparts.
Able-bodied athletes or where possible Olympic athletes
A paraplegic, paraplegics A person with paraplegia
A quadriplegic, quadriplegics A person with quadriplegia
A retard / the retarded A person with an intellectual impairment
Spastic A person with cerebral palsy
Abnormal, subnormal, defective, deformed
These are negative terms which imply failure to reach personal perfection
Specify the impairment
Afflicted with Say the person has… (the impairment)
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Most people with an impairment do not see themselves as afflicted
Confined to a wheelchair
A wheelchair provides mobility and is not confining
Say uses a wheelchair
Cripple or crippled
Invalid
These words convey a negative image of a twisted ugly body
Say with a physical impairment
Disease (when used as equal to impairment) Many disabilities, such as cerebral palsy and spinal injuries, are not caused by any illness or disease
Say impairment
Stumps
This has the connotations that the person’s limbs were cut off like a tree
Say amputation
Suffers from, sufferer
People with an impairment do not necessarily suffer
Say is/has… (an impairment)
Victim
People with an impairment are not necessarily victims and usually prefer not to be perceived as such
Say is/has… (an impairment)
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In general, it is helpful to remember that impairment is a characteristic or a situation of life but does not replace life itself. Life very often proves to be stronger than any kind of impairment.
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Usage of Para and Paralympic 35.4
Paralympic, Paralympics and Paralympian can only be used with reference to the Paralympic Games. For all sport outside of that, the word Para can be used (capitalised and followed by a space), provided that the IF is a member of the IPC or recognised by the IPC.
Preferred term Description/definition Incorrect terms (for definition indicated)
Notes/explanation why incorrect
Para athlete This is a general term for athletes with an impairment who play sport. Specifically it can be used for athletes who have not yet competed at a Paralympic Games, or for amateur athletes. The international federation of the sport must be recognised by the IPC.
Paralympian, Paralympic athlete The term Para can only be used for sports that are recognised by the IPC.
An athlete is only a Paralympian once he/she has taken part in a Paralympic Games
Paralympic hopeful An athlete who is hoping to take part in the Paralympic Games
Paralympian/Paralympic athlete An athlete is only a Paralympian once he/she has taken part in a Paralympic Games
Paralympian
Paralympic athlete
An athlete who has taken part in Paralympic Games.
Para Olympian
Former Paralympian
A Paralympian is never a former/ex-Paralympian. If you have taken part once, you are a Paralympian “for life”. If the person is no longer an athlete,
IPC Style Guide 36
then he/she is a former athlete.
Paralympic sport General reference to any sport on the Paralympic programme. This is only used when referring to the sport’s involvement in the Paralympic Games.
Para olympic sport, disabled sport, disability sport
These terms are incorrect
Para sport or sport for athletes with an impairment
All sport for athletes with an impairment whether they feature on the Paralympic programme or not. The IF must, however, be recognised by the IPC.
Paralympic/IPC terminology 35.5
Term Definition Incorrect terms
IPC sport A sport governed by the IPC (including Para Dance Sport)
IF sport A sport governed by an International Federation (IF)
IOSD sport A sport governed by an IOSD
International Paralympic Sport Federations (IPSFs)
All bodies governing a sport on the Paralympic Programme (i.e., IFs, IOSDs, IPC). This term is only used if a distinction needs to be made with the able-bodied federation. Usually International Federation (IF) should be used.
exhibition event An example of a promotional opportunity / an event opportunity
IPC Style Guide 37
demonstration events Sport events hosted at Paralympic competition with the purpose of becoming a sport on the Paralympic Programme.
Paralympic Games
or Paralympics (informal term)
The summer and winter Games held every two years for Paralympic athletes Para Olympics
Paralympic Anthem The Paralympic Anthem is played when the Paralympic flag is raised. Paralympic hymn
Paralympic emblem The three Agitos
Paralympic Family (all the persons belonging to the IPC, or Paralympic Movement)
Paralympic flag White flag with Paralympic emblem
Paralympic flame The Paralympic flame is lit on the Paralympic Torch a few days before the Paralympic Games
Paralympic aspiration To make for a more inclusive society for people with an impairment through Para sport.
Paralympic mission To enable Para athletes to achieve sporting excellence and inspire and excite the world
Paralympic motto
“Spirit in Motion”
Paralympic Movement This encompasses all athletes and officials belonging to the NPCs, the IOSDs, the International Federations (IFs), the Regional Organisations (ROs), the IPC Regional Committees, the IOSD Sports, the IPC Sports Committees, IPC Councils, IPC Standing Committees, other IPC bodies and any other persons or organisations who agree to be
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guided by the IPC Constitution and Bylaws. The criteria for belonging to the Paralympic Movement is formal membership or recognition by the IPC, or Paralympic Family.
Paralympic programme Collective term for the sports events taking place at the Paralympic Games.
Paralympic spirit The spirit of the Paralympic Movement
Paralympic sponsors Sponsors of the IPC
Paralympic sport
Paralympic sports
A sport that is on the Paralympic programme
Paralympic symbol The three Agitos
Paralympic Torch The Paralympic Torch is lit a few days before the Paralympic Games.
Paralympic torchbearer A Paralympic Torchbearer carries the Paralympic Torch.
Paralympic venue This is a venue where a Paralympic sport is being held at the Paralympic Games.
Paralympic Village The village where the athletes live during the Paralympic Games
IPC member Member of the International Paralympic Committee
IPC headquarters The main office of the International Paralympic Committee, which is located in Bonn, Germany.
ParalympicSport.TV
The IPC’s Internet TV Channel:
www.ParalympicSport.TV
www.YouTube.com/ParalympicSportTV
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IPC Style Guide 40
Event terminology 35.6
35.6.1 Paralympic Games
When speaking about the Paralympic Games one can use various formal or informal terms depending on the inclusion of the city and/or year. The city names and years in the examples below can be exchanged for city names of previous or upcoming Games. The Preferred term should be used on first usage, after which other formal or informal terms may be used where appropriate.
The Paralympic Games should not be referred to by the number of its edition (e.g., XI Paralympic Winter Games) or as Games of the Paralympiad.
Format Preferred term for first usage Other formal terms Other informal terms
Paralympic Summer Games usage:
[City] [Year] Paralympic Games [summer]
Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games 2008 Paralympic Games
Beijing 2008 Paralympics
Paralympic Games
Paralympics
2008 Paralympics
Beijing Paralympics
Paralympic Winter Games usage:
[City] [Year] Paralympic Winter Games
NB: The term Paralympic Games refers only to summer editions of the Paralympic Games. Any
Vancouver 2010 Paralympic Winter Games
Vancouver 2010 Winter Paralympics
Paralympic Winter Games
2010 Paralympics
Vancouver Paralympics
Winter Paralympics
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reference to winter editions shall use the term Paralympic Winter Games.
Paralympic and Olympic Summer Games parallel usage:
[City] [Year] Olympic and Paralympic Games
Beijing 2008 Olympic and Paralympic Games
Beijing 2008 Olympics and Paralympics
Paralympic and Olympic Winter Games parallel usage:
[City] [Year] Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games
Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games
Vancouver 2010 Winter Games
2010 Winter Games
The bid phase/period includes the applicant and candidate phase/period. A city is first an Applicant City (a city applying to become a Candidate City), until it has been chosen by the IOC as a Candidate City. One of the Candidate Cities then becomes the Host City.
For non-IPC sports, the format of the official event title should be used. For IPC sports the following formats should be used:
35.6.2 IPC sport events
Please get in touch with Annika Zeyen IPC Design Project Co-ordinator, ([email protected]) for naming conventions of IPC sport events, such as World and regional championships, World Cups and Grand Prix.
35.6.3 National Championships
Format Preferred term for first usage
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Multi-Sport: [Year] [Nation] Para Games
[NB: The term Paralympic Games cannot be used for a national event]
2010 German Para Games
2010 German Para Sport Games
Single Sport: [Year] [Nation] [Sport] Championships 2005 Egyptian Swimming Championships
35.6.4 State/Local Championships
Format Preferred term for first usage
Multi-Sport: (Year) (State/Local) Para Games
2008 Ontario Para Games
2009 London Para Games
Single Sport: (Year) (State/Local) (Sport) Championships 2004 Colorado Alpine Skiing Championships
2005 Barcelona Archery Championships
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IPC Sport Technical Committees (the technical advisory and delivery body 35.7of an IPC sport)
IPC followed by sport, followed by Sport Technical Committee:
World Para Swimming Technical Committee
IPC Governing Board (Abbreviation: GB, but this can never be used on external documents) (replaced IPC Executive Committee)
IPC management team (i.e., IPC Headquarters staff)
IPC Anti-Doping Committee
IPC Athletes with High Support Needs Committee
IPC Audit and Finance Committee
IPC Classification Committee
IPC Development Committee
IPC Education Committee
IPC Legal and Ethics Committee
IPC Paralympic Games Committee
IPC Sports Science Committee
IPC Therapeutic Use Exemption Committee
IPC Women in Sport Committee
IPC Athletes’ Council
IPC Council of IOSDs (informal: IOSDs’ Council)
IPC Council of Regions (informal: Regions’ Council)
IPC Sports’ Council (informal: SC)
IPC Sports’ Council Management Committee (informal: SCMC)
NB. Former GB members (not ex-GB members)
NPCs 35.8
The name of a NPC: National Paralympic Committee followed by of, followed by the country:
National Paralympic Committee of Rwanda (NPC Rwanda)
The country followed by Paralympic Committee:
Malta Paralympic Committee
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However, if the brand name of the NPC is in English, then this should be used, e.g. Canadian Paralympic Committee
IPC General Assembly 35.9
[Year] IPC General Assembly:
2011 IPC General Assembly (informal: GA, but this should never be used on external copy)
Regions 35.10
A regional organisation is an independent regional organisation recognised as the sole regional representative of the IPC members within a specific region as recognised by the IPC.
Asian Paralympic Committee
European Paralympic Committee (EPC)
Oceania Paralympic Committee (OPC)
An IPC region is a regional committee established by the IPC to act as the sole representative body in that region until such time as an independent regional organisation is created.
Americas Paralympic Committee
NOTE: Asian Paralympic Committee and Americas Paralympic Committee should never be shortened to APC.
IPC Style Guide 45
Organising Committees 35.11
Format Preferred term for first usage Other formal terms Other informal terms
[City] Organising Committee of the [year] Olympic and Paralympic [Winter] Games
Vancouver Organising Committee of the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games
Vancouver 2010 Organising Committee
VANOC
London Organising Committee of the 2012 Olympic Games and Paralympic Games
London 2012 Organising Committee
London 2012
LOCOG
Sochi 2014 Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games
Sochi 2014 Organising Committee
Sochi 2014
SOCOG
International Paralympic Committee
Adenauerallee 212-214 Tel. +49 228 2097-200 www.paralympic.org 53113 Bonn, Germany Fax +49 228 2097-209 [email protected]
36 Sports and Disciplines Sports and disciplines are always written in lower case, except if they refer to the brand name, e.g. World Para Athletics. The brand name should never be shortened. Abbreviations may only be used for results, but never in external documents.
“Para ” may be used before the sport if a distinction is necessary between able-bodied sport, e.g. John Smith was world champion on the able-bodied ski circuit, before he began Para table tennis.
“Para ” should always be capitalised and be followed by a space.
Please see section 36.4 for the distinction between Para sport and Paralympic sport.
International Federation (IF) is used to refer to the governing body of a Paralympic sport. Only to distinguish between the Olympic and Paralympic sport, can International Paralympic Sport Federation (IPSF) be used.
Sports and disciplines governed by the IPC 36.1
Abbreviation sport Brand name*
AS Para alpine skiing Word Para Alpine Skiing
AT Para athletics Word Para Athletics
BT Para biathlon Word Para Nordic Skiing
CC Para cross-country skiing (If the context is clear, this can on second reference be informally referred to as cross country).
Word Para Nordic Skiing
NS Para Nordic skiing Word Para Nordic Skiing
IH Para ice hockey Word Para Ice Hockey
PO Para powerlifting Word Para Powerlifting
SB Para snowboard Word Para Snowboard
SH shooting Para sport Word Shooting Para Sport
SW Para swimming Word Para Swimming
WD Para dance sport Word Para Dance Sport
*Please note that the Brand names will also be updated
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Sports and disciplines governed by IOSDs 36.2
BO boccia CPISRA
FB football 5-a-side IBSA
FT football 7-a-side CPISRA
GB goalball IBSA
JU Para judo IBSA
WF wheelchair fencing IWAS
Sports governed by International Federations (IF) 36.3
AR Para archery FITA
CY (CR and CT)
Para cycling (disciplines: road and track) UCI
EQ (ED and EC)
Para equestrian (disciplines: dressage) FEI
TT Para table tennis ITTF
RO Para rowing FISA
SA sailing IFDS
VO (VS) sitting volleyball WOVD
WB wheelchair basketball IWBF
WC wheelchair curling WCF
WR wheelchair rugby IWRF
WT wheelchair tennis ITF
Para triathlon ITU
Para canoe ICF
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37 Acronyms Acronyms can only be used upon second use and should be avoided altogether in external documents.
AfricanPC African Paralympic Committee
AmericasPC Americas Paralympic Committee
AsianPC Asian Paralympic Council
BAC Board of Appeal of Classification
BOCOG Beijing 2008 Organising Committee
CAS Court of Arbitration for Sport
CISS International Committee of Sports for the Deaf
CPISRA Cerebral Palsy International Sports and Recreation Association
EBU European Broadcasting Union
EPC European Paralympic Committee
FEI International Equestrian Federation
FESPIC Far East and South Pacific Games for the Disabled
FOP Field of Play
GA General Assembly
GAISF General Association of International Sports Federations
HQ Headquarters – Bonn, Germany
IBSA International Blind Sports Federation
ICAS International Council of Arbitration for Sport
ICSSPE International Council of Sport Science and Physical Education
IF International Federation
IFDS International Association for Disabled Sailing
INAS-FID International Sports Federation for Persons with an Intellectual Disability
IOC International Olympic Committee
IOSDs International Organisation of Sport for the Disabled
IPC Style Guide 49
IPC International Paralympic Committee
IPD International Paralympic Day
IPSF International Paralympic Sport Federation
ISMWSF International Stoke Mandeville Wheelchair Sports Federation
ISOD International Sports Organisation for the Disabled
ITF International Tennis Federation
IWAS International Wheelchair and Amputee Sports Federation
IWBF International Wheelchair Basketball Federation
IWRF International Wheelchair Rugby Federation
LOC Local Organising Committee
LOCOG London 2012 Organising Committee
NOC National Olympic Committee
NPC National Paralympic Committee
OCOG Organising Committee for the Olympic Games
ODI Organisational Development Initiative
OGKS Olympic Games Knowledge Service
OPC Oceania Paralympic Committee
PG Paralympic Games
POC Paralympic Organising Committee
PRIS Paralympic Results Information Systems
PSD Paralympic School Day
PWG Paralympic Winter Games
RC Regional Championships
RO Regional Organisation
SF Sports Forum
SAEC Sports Assembly Executive Committee
SC Sports Council
IPC Style Guide 50
SCMC Sports Council Management Committee
SOI Special Olympics International
SSC Sport Science Committee
TD Technical Delegate
TO Technical Official
TOK Transfer of Knowledge
TOP Olympic Partner Programme
UCI International Cycling Union
VIK Value in Kind
VANOC Vancouver 2010 Organising Committee
WADA World Anti-Doping Agency
WADC World Anti-Doping Code
WC World Championships
WCF World Curling Federation
WOVD World Organisation Volleyball for Disabled
IPC Style Guide 51
38 Country names and codes (for NPCs) For all official documents and protocol occasions use the official country name in the order below. For news articles, the editorial country name can be used.
English Editorial name (if different Country code Afghanistan AFG Albania ALB Algeria ALG Andorra AND Angola ANG Antigua and Barbuda ANT Argentina ARG Armenia ARM Aruba ARU Australia AUS Austria AUT Azerbaijan AZE Bahrain BRN Bangladesh BAN Barbados BAR Belarus BLR Belgium BEL Benin BEN Bermuda BER Bosnia and Herzegovina BIH Botswana BOT Brazil BRA Brunei Darussalam BRU Bulgaria BUL Burkina Faso BUR Burundi BDI Cambodia CAM Cameroon CMR Canada CAN Cape Verde CPV Central African Republic CAF
IPC Style Guide 52
English Editorial name (if different Country code Chile CHI People's Republic of China China CHN
Colombia COL Comoros COM Congo CGO Democratic Republic of the Congo COD
Costa Rica CRC Côte d'Ivoire CIV Croatia CRO Cuba CUB Cyprus CYP Czech Republic CZE Denmark DEN Djibouti DJI Dominican Republic DOM Ecuador ECU Egypt EGY El Salvador ESA Estonia EST Ethiopia ETH Faroe Islands FRO Fiji FIJ Finland FIN The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia
FYROM or FYR Macedonia MKD
France FRA Gabon GAB Gambia GAM Georgia GEO Germany GER Ghana GHA Great Britain GBR Greece GRE Guatemala GUA
IPC Style Guide 53
English Editorial name (if different Country code Guinea GUI Guinea-Bissau GBS Haiti HAI Honduras HON Hong Kong, China Hong Kong HKG Hungary HUN Iceland ISL India IND Indonesia INA Islamic Republic of Iran Iran IRI Iraq IRQ Ireland IRL Israel ISR Italy ITA Jamaica JAM Japan JPN Jordan JOR Kazakhstan KAZ Kenya KEN Republic of Korea South Korea KOR Kuwait KUW Kyrgyzstan KGZ Lao People's Democratic Republic Laos LAO
Latvia LAT Lebanon LBN Lesotho LES Liberia LBR Libya LBA Liechtenstein LIE Lithuania LTU Luxembourg LUX Macao, China Macao MAC Madagascar MAD Malawi MAW Malaysia MAS Mali MLI
IPC Style Guide 54
English Editorial name (if different Country code Malta MLT Mauritania MTN Mauritius MRI Mexico MEX Republic of Moldova Moldova MDA Mongolia MGL Montenegro MNE Morocco MAR Mozambique MOZ Myanmar MYA Namibia NAM Nepal NEP Netherlands NED New Zealand NZL Nicaragua NCA Niger NIG Nigeria NGR Norway NOR Oman OMA Pakistan PAK Palestine PLE Panama PAN Papua New Guinea PNG Democratic People's Republic of Korea North Korea PRK
Peru PER Philippines PHI Poland POL Portugal POR Puerto Rico PUR Qatar QAT Romania ROU Russian Federation Russia RUS Rwanda RWA Samoa SAM San Marino SMR Sao Tome and Principe STP
IPC Style Guide 55
English Editorial name (if different Country code Saudi Arabia KSA Senegal SEN Serbia SRB Seychelles SEY Sierra Leone SLE Singapore SGP Slovakia SVK Slovenia SLO Solomon Islands SOL Somalia SOM South Africa RSA Spain ESP Sri Lanka SRI Sudan SUD Suriname SUR Sweden SWE Switzerland SUI Syrian Arab Republic Syria SYR Chinese Taipei TPE Tajikistan TJK United Republic of Tanzania Tanzania TAN
Thailand THA Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste East Timor TLS
Togo TOG Tonga TGA Trinidad and Tobago TRI Tunisia TUN Turkey TUR Turkmenistan TKM Uganda UGA Ukraine UKR United Arab Emirates UAE (on second reference) UAE United States of America USA USA Uruguay URU
IPC Style Guide 56
English Editorial name (if different Country code US Virgin Islands ISV
Uzbekistan UZB Vanuatu VAN Venezuela VEN Vietnam VIE Yemen YEM Zambia ZAM Zimbabwe ZIM
IPC Style Guide 57
39 Useful websites Style Guides online: 39.1
The Economist Style Guide http://www.economist.com/styleguide/introduction
The Guardian Style Guide http://www.guardian.co.uk/styleguide
Guide to assist you when writing about persons with an impairment: 39.2
National Centre on Disability & Journalism: www.ncdj.org